From the Start Short Stories
by Sprogster85
Summary: This will be a collection of short stories following the events of my previous story "From the Start".
1. Chapter 1

From the Start: Short Stories

Chapter 1 - Celebrating

This will be a collection of short stories following the events of my From The Start story. I advise reading that story before starting this one as the protagonist, Winter, goes through many physical changes which will more than likely be mentioned in these stories.

These stories will only feature the one pairing of the protagonist and Kanon. Feel free to imagine your own character in place of mine.

This chapter is an immediate follow up from my story From The Start.

DISCLAIMER: I DO NOT OWN THE GOD EATER FRANCHISE HOWEVER I DO OWN MY OC.

Winter's POV

The difference in noise is very apparent as I walk along the corridor with the intention of entering the lift at the end of it. With every step I took, I found myself beginning to regret the decision and was beginning to have second thoughts.

'I'm not exactly the most sociable of people so why the hell am I going to this party? Is it because I'd feel guilty if I didn't go? There are people that want to see me at the party. Why else would Sakaki have came directly to my room to tell me to attend?' Multiple thoughts whirr around in my head with most of these thoughts being negative.

"Maybe I shouldn't go." I stop in front of the lift with my finger hovering near the button to call for it.

"But I don't want to disappoint them. What would they think if I couldn't show up to a simple party?" I quietly murmur, contemplating my two options of whether to go or not. Swallowing all of my nerves, I quickly press the button and begin to hear the lift moving to my floor. It would be impossible to not hear it. I'm sure that even the people furthest away from the lift in the party would be able to hear it screeching up to my floor.

"I just hope that I won't cause a scene when I step out of the lift." I give a nervous laugh before scratching my head; the fear of messing up in social situations making me feel itchy all over.

'It's not too late to turn back.' The words flash in my head.

'I'm sure that not everybody will be at the party so they won't even know I wussed out on going.' The thoughts grow even more as the lift comes to a stop and its doors open.

'Maybe I could just sit in one of the corners. Surely no one will notice me.' I judge this thought to be my best option for if I do attend the party.

'That way I can't make a fool of myself.' My mind begins to process this option and before I know it, I have stepped into the lift and rotated 180o so that I am now facing the corridor that I had walked down. Looking back at it, it doesn't look all that large so why did it take me a long while to just reach the lift? With a reluctant sigh, I press the button to take me to the lower levels of the Den, hoping that I can just slip out of the lift and stand in one of the many corners to try to hide myself.

The noise grows considerably louder as I pass each floor leading to the final stop. At this point, my mind has stopped thinking about turning back and is just trying to think about how to conceal myself while I'm at the party.

'Maybe hiding in the darkest corner will do. Or maybe a corner that is the least populated.' However, all my thoughts go blank as the lift stops and its doors are opened. Looking around, I can't see anybody on this level of the Den and immediately assume that they are all partying near Hibari's desk. I step out of the lift and take a look towards the stairs that lead to the lower section. I notice a few heads of hair and realise that my assumption was correct. They were all partying and looking like they were enjoying themselves.

"I'd only ruin their fun if I go there." I mumble to myself.

"Social gatherings aren't your thing?" A person to my right speaks to me. I turn to the owner of the voice to see Soma on one of the Terminals. I walk to the terminal beside him.

"Not really. I'd much rather prefer a smaller party." I answer him with a small smile on my face as I log onto the terminal.

"I'm guessing you're the same." I tell him as I turn my head towards him. I notice he has a small plate of food resting beside the terminal.

"I doubt that was really a guess." He states and it wouldn't take a genius to know that he was right. After all, Soma has always preferred solitude over company. Hence why he finds it hard to get along with those that aren't in his Unit. But he is slowly becoming more sociable. Unlike me who was deciding on sitting in the shadows until the party was over.

"Typical, even now you don't want to take a break. I bet that, even if you narrowly avoided death in a mission, if someone had asked you to go on another mission that you'd take it up without hesitation." Soma tells me.

"Unless you are suggesting we go on a mission now then shut up." I joke with him. Thankfully he has learned how to take a joke and lightly laughs it off.

There is silence for a few minutes before Soma breaks it,

"So why did you come down here if you weren't going to join in?" He asks.

"At least I can say I was there if anybody asked me." I give him an honest answer as I steal a bit of food from his plate. If he notices he doesn't tell me.

"I'll just hide here until the party ends. That way, I can just say a few simple good-nights so that people know I was actually here." I continued my explanation however, I wasn't expecting him to laugh at it.

"What?" I ask him in genuine confusion.

"You won't be able to hide with them arms." He says in between laughs as he points to my Gawain-like arms. I'm just thankful that his laugh isn't loud enough to attract the people in the party. Or that's what I thought.

"What's so funny, Soma? Oh, Winter!. What up bud?" Due to the language that this individual uses, I already know who it is and don't bother looking at him as I answer.

"Not much, Kota." My answer is simple, but the fact that I didn't turn around to know who it was made Soma laugh even more. Although, my facial expression of "I'll kill you!" that I directed at him probably contributed to his laughter.

"Why not join the party then, bud?" Kota asks and I feel his arm around my neck, pulling me away from he terminal I was at. My hands grip a hold of the terminal to prevent me from being pulled any further.

"Oh, so that's the way you want to play it, eh?" He asks before and I hear him walk away.

Once Kota is far enough away, I give look to my right with the intention of giving Soma a death glare, and possibly even telling him how I plan to end his life but to my surprise, I find that he is not there.

"Must have left when I was preoccupied with Kota." I quietly say to myself, not wanting to draw any more attention. For the next few minutes, I fiddle with the terminal and read a few new NORM database entries. Unfortunately, or maybe fortunately, I would be interrupted with a pair of slender arms enclosing around my waist.

"Kanon?" I ask in surprise and feel her cuddle me from behind.

"It's just as you said, Kota, he's hiding near the terminals." I hear Alisa say which makes me realise that at least her, Kanon and Kota are behind me.

"You will go to this party, Winter." Kanon's grip on my tightens and I begin to realise what is happening. I latch my hands onto the terminal as I try to fight off the second round of pulling. Kanon is quite a bit stronger than Kota and so it is harder to maintain my grip. It gets to the point where I have to use my Gawain-like claws to grip onto the steel frame above me so that I wouldn't be taken with her. I feel Kanon's position shift and hope that she has given up. My breath is taken from me as her grip tightens even more and she whispers into my ear,

"You have two options" She begins and I can feel her breath on my ear. "You can either come with me to the party or we'll get all the other God Eaters to pull you to the party. I suppose the real question is," Her breath and tone give me a nervous shiver, "Do you want to walk to the party or be dragged?" She asks, still with her face next to my ear. When I don't answer she says,

"Well? You're wasting time. It's not a hard option once you think about it." Her grip tightens even more and I can swear that some of my internals organs have been squashed. I try to tell her, "I'll walk" in a calm manner but what came out was more of a nervous squeak,

"I-I'll walk." I could almost imagine her smiling face beaming into my back as I squeaked. I relinquish my claws' hold on the steel frames above us and log out of the terminal.

"Good choice." She moves away from my ear but keeps my waist on lockdown.

"You can let go of my waist now, you know." I tell her, she loosens her grip but keeps her arms around me.

"I'll keep them here in case you try to escape."

I turn around as I notice that I've properly logged out of the terminal. Kanon relinquishes her grip as I do so but she quickly fastens her arms around me once I've moved away from it. With all this commotion, I almost forgot that Alisa and Kota were watching. Looking into their faces I see the same emotion on both of them. Alisa was smiling almost sadistically but Kota seemed fearful of Kanon's methods. I walk through the middle of them and they walk alongside me. In my eyes, it looks as though they are sealing any possible exit.

"Your girlfriend is scary." Kota whispers to me. Unfortunately, he doesn't realise that his whisper was almost as loud as his usual speech and so the two girls heard him.

"What was that?" Alisa asked in an annoyed voice to tell him to repeat what he just said. Kanon didn't respond and I can only assume that she is smiling madly behind me back.

Once we got to the stairs, it seemed like we had attracted everyone's attention. Everyone was staring up at us and I got the chance to see who was present and who they were talking to. It seems as though everyone was just mingling with each other no matter which Unit they belong to. I began my descent down the stairs and notice the two new recruits, Annette and Federico, swarm towards the bottom of the stairs.

'Just think of everybody here waiting for a mission briefing. Yeah, a mission briefing.' I think to myself in an attempt to calm me down, tricking my brain into thinking that we were all going on a mission as one big unit. It doesn't work though and soon enough I am bombarded with words as I reach the bottom of the stairs. As they speak, Kota and Alisa leave my sides and head further into the crowd of party goers.

"Would you mind helping me, Winter? I need more training! I've already asked everyone in the 2nd Unit to think of exercises to add to my daily training regimen. I want to become a real God Eater... I want to be able to help you... You... You're my hero! I remember the last time we were on a mission and that was when I was just starting! We haven't been on a mission since then! But I'm going to get stronger! Strong enough to protect everyone! I believe that I will only get stronger if you help me. Then I'll be able to fight by your side!" Annette says in a few breaths. Her excitement astounds me.

"Sounds like you have quite the fan." Kanon lets go of my waist and takes my hand. I don't know if she knew I was nervous or was just becoming uncomfortable in holding my waist. Either way, it calmed me slightly.

"Y-Yeah sure, I'll help. I'll think of new ways you can train. Then you can fight alongside me." I tell her nervously with an arm behind my neck, still amazed at the praise she gave me.

"I want to train as well! I'm going to become the strongest God Eater out there and to do that, I need to get stronger than you!" Federico exclaims and I can see the passion in his eyes.

"Why do you want to train with me if you want to be stronger than me?" I ask him.

"Because I need to get as strong as you before I can beat you! Will you help me train?" He asks.

"Urm... Yeah, sure."

"Great! How about we start tomorrow?" Annette shouts.

"Uh..."

"8:00 sharp! Be there!" Annette shouts and prances away.

"Great! I'll see you there then!" Federico exclaims before leaving.

"Uh... What just happened?" I ask out loud.

"Well it looks like you've made plans to train with the new recruits." She says with a smile on her face.

"Did I?"

"Come on, let's go and see what the others are doing." Kanon shouts as she drags me by the hand to where the rest of our Unit is which just happens to b next to the food table.

When we get to the food table, I take one of the plates that have been left out to the side and start filling it up. Kanon lets go of my hand and begins talking to the females of the Unit. I'm sure I heard an "it worked" from one of them.

"It's about time you showed up." Lindow says as he pats my right shoulder.

"Uh huh." I speak, not really listening to what Lindow has to say as I turned my attention back to filling up my plate.

"I was beginning to think that you weren't going to show up."

"Uh huh." Hearing my response, he leans towards me and whispers,

"I hear you took the bait." Now that brings my attention to him. I stop grabbing food, turn my head and ask,

"Bait?"

"Yeah. Did you really think that Soma was standing there to get away from the party, _Harley_?" Speaking of Soma, he also appears to have taken an interest in the conversation. All my attention is drawn at the sound of my forename which I had thought that only Soma and Kanon knew. I give Soma a questioning glance.

"I didn't say anything. But I did tell you that I wasn't the only one that heard you that night." He responds as he notices my look.

"Anyway," I change the topic of conversation back to Soma acting s bait, "how was Soma acting as bait?" I ask the males of the group as I notice Kota heading towards us from the other end of the food table.

"Well, Kanon thought that you wouldn't attend the party unless we did something to make you. Sakaki wanted to get in on it and so we got him to try and convince you." Lindow then laughs.

"It was a well thought out plan." Kota chips in before allowing Lindow to continue.

"Kanon read you like a book. She thought that you would just try to stay in a corner of the room so we got Soma, here," He pats Soma on the back, "to wait at the terminals, making it look like he was working on it. We knew that you would join him. All that would remain is to alert the rest of us about your arrival." He chuckles again.

"When Kota arrived, I had taken my leave to tell the others about your arrival. We were hoping that Kota would drag you to the party but he told us that you kept tight a hold of the terminal." Soma explains casually.

"And that's why I did what I did." Kanon speaks up, I turn towards her to see that the girls were listening in on our conversation. The girls had big smiles on their faces.

"You threatened me." I say simply to Kanon.

"I wouldn't think of it as a threat. More like, a bit of friendly encouragement." She answers.

"I never would have thought you'd be scared of a girl." Lindow pats me on the back. He seems to have a habit of that.

"Whatever, now that you're here, why don't you talk with the other God Eaters. You may have eve gained a few fans." Sakuya tells me.

"He's already spoken to Annette and Federico. They are definitely fans of his." Alisa informs her with a flick of her hair.

"Fine. I'll speak with a few people. After I've eaten." I tell them and head back up the stairs to the couches.

As I reach the last few bites of food, I notice a few people climbing up the stairs out of the corner of my eye. Leading of the group owns silver hair and an eye-patch. I pretend I didn't see them and continue eating.

"Ah, Winter. There you are." She says as she leads her group, which I now see to consist of Tatsumi, Brendan, Shun and her.

"Winter." Tatsumi greets me.

"Oh, hi everyone. What brings you all up here?" I ask, with the hope that they soon leave. I want to eat my food in peace. That's the whole reason why I came up here. Gina sits to my right, a little too closely while Brendan sits to my left. Thankfully, Brendan knows about personal space, something that Gina doesn't.

"We just wanted to know how the mission went." Brendan states stoically. I find myself becoming annoyed at that tone.

'Wait. Is that what I sound like? Wow. What a pain I must be.' I think to myself before answering his question,

"I'm sure you can tell by the celebrations."

"What he means to say is, how was the battle? Kota told me he was epic but other than that just told me to see you." Tatsumi explains.

"Yeah, tell us all the juicy details." Gina says from beside me before leaning back into the couch with her arms crossed, possibly implying that she won't leave until she gets a good answer.

"Don't get me wrong," Shun starts, "I'm not interested in the fight. I want to know how much it pays."

"Of course you do." I sigh, "Well, I checked earlier when I was at the terminals and I think I was paid 18000FC (Fenrir Credits)."

"18000!" Shun repeats in surprise, "I should have went with you!"

"But then the reward money would have decreased." I tell him.

"That doesn't matter! The missions I go on only pay 5000FC! The next time you get a big paying job you are taking me on it!"

"that's quite the demand..."

"I've got to tell Karel about this. We can bring him along too!" Shun shouts in joy as he runs back down the stairs.

"Anyway, about the battle?" Tatsumi brings the topic back.

"I just gave out some orders. I told Kota, Alisa, Sakuya and Kanon to carve out an opening whilst Lindow, Soma and I ran straight towards it. The Nova jumped into the air so Lindow and Soma jumped after it and chopped its wings off." I notice that they are paying close attention and so I continue, "Then I jumped towards it and using both of my God Arcs, made it crash into the ground." I explained.

"Wow, that sounds pretty cool." Brendan states stoically and I can't tell if he is being serious or sarcastic.

"Yeah, it does." Gina says from beside me.

"Well, I've tired myself out now so I'll be going to back to my room." I leave my seat, wanting to leave before anyone tries to start another conversation. I couldn't be more thankful that the lift was already on this floor and got in straight away, pressing the button to return me to the floor that my room is on.

'I'll be able to lock the door to my room so that nobody will be able to get in.' I think to myself as the lift moved up the floors.

As the lift stops and its doors open, I see Kanon waiting further along the corridor. I step out of the lift and she walks towards me. I expect her to be mad but as she grows closer, I can't see any emotion on her face.

'Yeah, she's mad.' I think to myself, raising my arms in preparation to block any of her attacks. She keeps up her poker face as she stops right in front of me. I hear the lift move back down, blocking any chance of escape.

'Actually, the stairs are nearby.' I think to myself and try to move myself towards them.

"I thought you'd run back up here after you ate." She smiles and it looks to be quite caring instead of a sadistic one.

"Well, you lasted 30 minutes. I suppose that's good enough. Just remember that you have a popularity event to go to soon."

"Wait, What?!"

"Yeah, Sakaki's already told me that he plans on hosting a popularity event for you. It'll give your fans a chance to meet you." She tells me happily before walking to my side, still facing in the same direction.

"You did a good job today. Don't worry though, you'll get over your social anxiety eventually. Although, I didn't really think that it was that bad. You aren't the type to express your fears so I had to learn it for myself. I think that your actions today has shown everyone that even you fear something." She whispers to me.

"Go to your room and rest. You did well today. I will make it my main objective to make sure you beat this fear." She repeats before continuing her walk to the stairs and down them. Her words surprise me but I'm glad that she is accepting of my inability to socialise. I walk back to my room where I relax and eventually fall asleep.


	2. Chapter 2

From the Start: Short Stories

Chapter 2 - Popularity Event 1

DISCLAIMER: I DO NOT OWN THE GOD EATER FRANCHISE HOWEVER I DO OWN MY OC.

Winter's POV

About 2 months had passed since the party celebrating the victory of the Nova had occurred and it has been a quiet couple of months. The only things that could be considered as threats would be the large Quadrigas that had wandered too close to the Anti-Aragami Wall for comfort. They were dealt with relatively quickly by the newest of God Eaters. In total, a group of 6 newcomers became God Eaters and that was about 1 week after the celebration night had passed. With hardly any jobs worthy of my attention, at least in Sakaki's eyes, he had arranged for me to teach these new recruits how to battle the Aragami and what to do and what not to do when facing them. They were definitely a mixed bunch of people. Each had their own individual traits. All of them though, had one common trait; their clumsiness. It often showed during battles as well. At one point, I had taken a group of three of them out to defeat a colony of Ogretails. I suppose that the only positive thing about that mission is that they didn't hesitate to attack them but that was also clumsy on their a proper plan, they basically dived head first into the jaws of the Ogretails. Of course, I defeated the Ogretails before they could make any real damage on the new recruits. The teacher-student relationship became stronger with that group and thus I took them out on more missions. For the other three though, they are best defined as brats. I would make sure to only take one of them out on a mission at a time as well as filling the extra party slots with people I can get along with really well. This is because there were several times that I wanted to punish the brats so I needed to have someone there to calm me down. Most of the time it is Kanon but I won't lie in saying that even the former newbies, Annette and Federico, had calmed me down several times. After training the group of brats, the saying "an eye for an eye" became my new motto when dealing with them. Since they didn't listen to me when I tell them about the plans, I didn't listen to their cries for help. Sure it got me into trouble quite a bit but in the end, the brats came to realise my new motto and actually looked like they were paying me attention, even if they weren't listening at all.

Right now though, Sakaki had called me up to his office. I'm not sure what it is about since I no longer carry responsibility for the brats as they had been transferred to other branches whilst the three well behaved new recruits had joined my Unit. Either way, the sooner I get there, the sooner I can leave.

"Ah, good evening, Winter." Sakaki greets me with his usual smile as I walk up to his desk.

"You wanted to see me?" My face remains emotionless despite an increase in the levels of annoyance.

"Yes. You remember what we talked about a while ago? I believe it was the night of the celebrations." He reminds me.

"That was two months ago. I can't even remember the Aragami that I had to hunt two days ago, let alone a conversation from two months ago." I tell him stoically.

"Well, it's a shame you can't remember yet but I'm sure you will soon." He begins an explanation but his words don't leave my head as I ponder on their meaning.

"The truth of the matter is that Fenrir is making cutbacks on the amount of money they are supplying to each branch. This includes the Far East Branch." He explains and I feign interest.

"Therefore, we have had to come up with other ways to make money. We have decided that you will be the best way to make this money." He explains.

"Are you planning on selling me?" I ask him with a horrid look on my face, "I didn't realise that the Branch would try to make me a prostitute; or is it a gigolo? If that is the case then I request to be transferred to another Branch immediately." I'm sure he can hear the disgust in my voice. My comment removes the smile from his face as he slams his hands on the desk in utter surprise at my comment.

"No! That's not what I meant at all! I wouldn't dare think about doing something like that! And definitely not to someone who has defended the world multiple times! Clearly you have forgotten about the main reason why the Far East Branch has had a ton of God Eater applications." Sakaki says with the fear in his voice fading at the thought of losing his favourite and strongest God Eater to another Branch.

"Alright then, enough jokes." I tell him and enjoy his embarrassed look. Now that I think about it, this is the first time I've seen him be embarrassed. I guess he does have a few emotions after all.

"You were saying that I could somehow be of service for raising money for the Branch." I remind him of what he was telling me. He coughs to regain composure before plastering that smile on his face again and resuming his explanation.

"Ah, yes. I'll cut straight to the point. It looks like we will need to arrange the popularity event after all." The words "popularity event" bring back my memories of the conversation we had two months ago.

"Is there no other alternative?" I ask, in the hopes that there was.

"Unfortunately not. With the increase in the number of God Eaters, we will need more funds to pay them regularly. The only way we can do this is by either lowering the pays of everybody in the Den or by holding events that would raise money. Keeping in mind that shops all over the world will be increasing their prices and so, if we lower everyone's pay, they will find it more difficult to get by."

"Fine, fine. I'll do it." I tell him reluctantly. "Is that all?"

"Don't get me wrong, I hate the fact that this is our only option as I know you aren't a fan of people you don't know. How about we give you a partner in crime whilst you're making the money?" He asks me.

"I would much rather prefer having someone with me in this event." I explain to him.

"Events." Sakaki says and it takes me a few seconds to realise what he means.

"How many events do you intend on holding?" I enquire.

"We'll need to hold one event every couple of months or so. Of course, depending on how much you make, we may not need to hold another event for quite some time." He informs me.

"My only condition is that I have someone with me at every event." I tell him with an exasperated sigh.

"Of course. I'll send you the details of when the event will take place." Sakaki then dismisses me and I go back to my room, with the thought of getting some sleep sounding very appealing to me.

Day of the event

The heat was unbearable today, despite the fact that Sakaki had picked out a decently shaded spot just outside of the Den. I kind of feel sorry for my fans though which have accumulated in a long line that I can't see the end of. I've been doing this event for what, 2 hours now? And I'm already sweating from the blistering heat. I bet that most people wish that the line would hurry along just so that they could move into the shade. It won't make too much of a difference though. I have thought numerous times about removing my shirt but I can't bring myself to do it. I'm just that lethargic. I wish I had more appropriate clothing like my popularity partner, Alisa, who is wearing the same clothes she always does but they are a lot more suited to his weather.

"I'm hot." She tells me as she leans back into her chair and I look at her incredulously.

"You're hot? You're attire is more suited to this weather than mine!" I tell her as I move my hand to point at my attire. "You're showing about 50% more skin that I am." I tell her as I refer to my short sleeve shirt. She grunts in response but before she can continue, a cough from the next customer alerts us to the situation in hand.

"Hi, I'm a big fan of both of you. Can I get an autograph from you both?" The girl asks us.

"You'll have to pay the combined total, is that okay?" I tell her but receive an elbow in the ribs from Alisa.

"I know. I have the money for them both." The customer tells us with a smile on her face.

"Okay. Who should we make this out to?" Alisa asks as the customer hands us a notebook.

"Can you put _to my number one fan_ please?" She asks with a wide smile.

"Of course." I answer with a smile of my own and allow Alisa to write her signature first.

"So I've been meaning to ask when I saw you two earlier but... Are you two together?" She asks. If we had been drinking anything then I'm sure we would have spit it out.

"No, it's nothing like that." Alisa speaks up and she hands me the notebook.

"Yeah, I'm in a relationship with a different God Eater anyway." I tell her as I finish my signature.

"Really?! Who is it?!" She asks and her tone tells me she won't leave without an answer but I don't give in.

"You'll see when we get married. Anyway, that'll be 16,000 Fenrir Credits please." I inform her.

"Oh, yeah." She fishes the money out of her bag before giving it to us.

"Thanks very much." Alisa and I say and the customer moves on.

As the customer walks away, Alisa turns to me.

"When are you planning on marrying her?" She pokes me in the ribs playfully.

"Not for a while yet. I'm planning on making it a great ceremony so I'll need a ton of money before that happens." I explain to her.

"Aw, I didn't know you had a sweet side. I guess I have Kanon to thank for that, huh?"

"You guessed right. Anyway, time for the customer." I say in order to drop the conversation. The next customer is an overweight male that is quite shy in asking for an autograph.

"Y-yeah, Hi. Can I-I get an autograph please?" He fidgets with the paper as he says this before handing it to Alisa.

"Of course." She answers with a large smile, "Who should I make it out to?"

"Please put _to my future husband_." The man says and his words make Alisa visibly shiver.

I lean over and whisper to her, "How many is that now? 4 in the last hour?"

"Shut up." She whispers back to me before fulfilling the customer's request.

"That'll be 5,000 Fenrir Credits please." Alisa gives the paper back and receives the money from the customer before he moves along.

"You should probably charge for fan service as well with customers like that." I say humoured as to the number of perverted fans she has.

"You pervert." She says with embarrassment evident in her voice.

"Why not? You could probably make more than me that way." I tell her as I refer to the price differences for each option of an autograph, photograph or a hug.

"Why are your prices so high anyway?" She asks and I think I can sense a bit of jealously in her voice.

"Don't ask me. Sakaki's the one who set it up." I explain to her.

"Yeah but 11,000FC for an autograph, 20,000FC for a photograph and 50,000FC for a hug?! Who even has the money for anything other than an autograph?" Alisa asks with an incredulous look.

"No idea. I guess Sakaki set his hopes too high." I tell her before turning to the next customer.

"Hi," She begins as she looks at me with a happy gleam in her eye, "I'd like one of everything!" She shouts as she places her hands on the desk and pushes her face about 30 centimetres from mine.

"Um, okay. Do you have the money for it all?" I ask, believing that she didn't have the money.

"Yep!" She reaches into her bag and pulls out so much money that you would have thought that she robbed a bank. Alisa takes the money and counts it as I proceed with an autograph.

"Who should I make it out to?" I ask, slightly unnerved as to the amount of money she is willing to spend on me.

"Please put, _Amanda Wells, My future bride_." She tells me.

"Sounds like you have your own perverted fans, who are loaded with money." Alisa whispers to me.

"Is it real?" I ask about the legibility of the money and she gives a nod of her head.

"Anyway," I turn my attention back to the customer, "How about I write something else? I am already in a relationship, you see." I explain to her.

"Okay, then how about _Amanda Wells, may our futures intertwine_?" She asks. I accept this despite the fact that it still sounds creepy but at least it is better than the first one. I write it down and hand it to her.

"Next is a photogr..." Before I can finish, the customer, now known as Amanda, throws Alisa her phone, luckily she catches it, and grabs my face so that we can both look into the phone for the photograph. Although slightly surprised at what's just happened, Alisa takes the photograph and Amanda lets go. I find myself fearing what is going to happen when she hugs me.

"Next is the hug." I say and stand up, walking around the stall out of the stall so that she can hug me. She doesn't hesitate in grabbing me as soon as she can and moves her hands up my back. I push away from her straight away and rush back into the stall.

"Next customer please!" I shout and Amanda gives a large smile before skipping away.

"You definitely have some weird fans." Alisa tells me as she pats me on the shoulder in an attempt at calming me down. She must have noticed how shaken I was from the event. I find myself thinking that this is the only time that I'm glad somebody else knows how I am around people I don't know otherwise I'd have probably flipped out.


	3. Chapter 3 - Valentine's Day

From the Start: Short Stories

Chapter 3

This is my first attempt at a chapter that is supposed to be romantic. Please tell me if I can accurately write the characters' feelings or if I should stop trying to write romance scenes.

DISCLAIMER: I DO NOT OWN THE GOD EATER FRANCHISE HOWEVER I DO OWN MY OC.

The sun's warm rays shine through the blue curtains of Winter's room with ease. The curtains do very little to limit the amount of light that shines into the room. In fact, the whole room is illuminated by these rays which is enough to cause Winter to stir awake with multiple groans and grumbles; not really grateful for the wake up call. Several minutes later of Winter's failed attempts to get back to sleep, he swings his legs out of his blanket and his feet connect with the slightly warm floor.

"I suppose there are worse ways to wake up." Winter mumbles before opening his eyes and swinging the rest of his body off the bed.

"Like when Tsubaki stood over my bed and commanded me to prepare for a mission in the next 10 minutes." Winter lets out a fatigued sigh, unable to shake off the weariness he still feels. After a few stretches and yawns, Winter moves to his terminal with the intention of checking his emails for the day. Winter logs on to the terminal and views his schedule.

"February the 14th, eh? Valentine's day? I didn't realise it when I woke up." Winter whispers to himself as he recalls how difficult it is to keep track of time in the dystopian world he inhabits.

"Well, do I have any scheduled missions today?" Winter, once again, whispers to himself before checking.

"I don't. Well, I'm going to have to do something with Kanon today. I hope she doesn't have any missions today." Winter speaks before entering a thinking pose with a hand rubbing his chin.

'If I had a beard this pose would look very appropriate. Anyway, what can Kanon and I do?' Winter's thoughts get back on track. 'I know that most women like romantic stuff, but not being a romantic person I have no idea of what to do. I could give her some chocolates but that sort of thing usually isn't a common gift for women. Besides, that's probably what she will be giving me. So, chocolate is out of the question.' Whilst Winter begins thinking up credible ideas, he gets dressed for the day. Putting on his clothes was difficult since Winter still has his Gawain-like arms but since he had clothes tailored specifically for him, it wasn't too much of a problem. After dressing himself, Winter left his room, making sure to lock the door, and headed down the corridor.

Moving down the corridor and to the lift, Winter pressed the button or the lift to arrive at his floor. Moments later, the lift appeared and Alisa emerged from it.

"Winter?" Alisa asks with her voice rising in intonation.

"Wrong. Guess again." Winter answered in a humoured tone.

"There's not many people I know that has massive Aragami arms like this." Alisa says as she moves from the lift and towards Winter's left Gawain-like arm, pressing on it whilst looking at Winter. In response, Winter moves his four metre long appendages away from her touch.

"What brings you up to the Executive Section?" Winter enquires with a hand gesturing to the space area around them.

"I'm here to see Sakuya, actually." Alisa announces before flicking her hair up and moving towards Sakuya's room.

"Okay then." Winter simply replies before moving into the lift.

"Actually, Winter. Can I talk to you for a moment?" Alisa asks as she makes her way back to Winter. Winter sighs in response and moves out of the lift, making his way over to sit next to Alisa who had taken the liberty of moving to the seats located in the area before the lift. Winter had made sure to move his appendages so that they weren't in the way of the two whilst they talked.

"You know what day it is right?" She asks in a slightly shy manner but not enough for Winter to suspect anything.

"Yeah, Valentine's day. Is there someone you like?" Winter enquires since Alisa brought up the date.

"Well... I... Feel nervous talking to a guy about it but... Yes there is someone." Alisa responds in a more nervous manner.

"That's great. I'm sure they'd be happy to receive something from you." Winter tells her, already suspecting that Alisa wanted to talk to him to ask what she should give this person for Valentine's day.

"But... I don't know what to give him. As a boy, what would you like to receive on Valentine's Day?" Alisa asks Winter and he smiles, knowing he correctly predicted the topic of conversation.

"Well, have you thought about chocolates? I mean, that's probably what most guys expect." Winter states simply.

"But if he expects that then it isn't going to be unique, is it?" Alisa comments on Winter's statement, not wanting to be traditional.

"Well, if you want to give him something unique, then maybe you should... Erm... I can't think of anything." Winter says with a nervous laugh.

"Well you were of no help at all!" Alisa gives an angry shout before getting up and moving towards Sakuya's door. Winter also gets up and moves towards the lift that was surprisingly still there. He turns back as he thinks of something,

"Alisa, I'm sure he'd be happy no matter what you give him!" Winter shouts before stepping into the lift and pressing the button for the lower levels of the Den but not before seeing a smile on Alisa's face and seeing her enter Sakuya's room.

Upon reaching his destination, Winter moved out of the lift and to Hibari's desk.

"Hi Hibari." Winter greets her with a smile.

"Hey Winter. Why are you here? You don't have any scheduled missions." Hibari asks with a slightly confused expression on her face.

"Well, I've got something planned for Valentine's day..."

"And you want to know if I'm available to go with you? I appreciate the offer but if Tatsumi finds out he will kill you." Hibari interrupts with a nervous smile. She only gets more nervous as she sees Winter's stunned expression.

"Wh-What? No! You do know I have a girlfriend, right? What I want to know is if there are any Aragami in the City of Ruins." Winter speaks with his stunned expression still present.

"Oh. You should have said that from the start." Hibari gives an embarrassed laugh and Winter becomes even more stunned with his jaw appearing unhinged from the rest of his skull.

"Well, there have been sightings of a Susano'o and an Aether there which Sakaki has arranged for the new recruits to defeat so..."

"What?! Sakaki has arranged for the new recruits to defeat them?! There's no way they'll survive! I'll complete both missions! Tell Sakaki that he would be sending the new recruits to their death!" Winter interrupts in utter disbelief.

"B-but..." Hibari attempted to stammer out a few words but another interruption from Winter wouldn't allow it.

"but nothing! If Sakaki complains, tell him to speak to me about it." Winter announces before going to God Arc Storage Area 2 to collect his God Arc. Once he has collected it, he goes to the roof where a helicopter is on standby and informs the pilot of the situation. A few minutes later, Winter is headed to the City of Mercy to defeat two Aragami.

Meanwhile, with Winter's love interest, Kanon, she has already made her way to the cafeteria and requested to use the kitchen. She was given permission to and is now preparing all the ingredients and equipment to make Winter something for Valentine's day.

"So, I've prepared all of the things, now it's time to start." Kanon says with a happy clap of her hands.  
"Hey there. Mind if I join you?" Kanon turns her head to the person to find Annette standing in the doorway.

"Of course not, Annette." Kanon informs her. "I'm guessing that you want to make something to?"

"Yeah. You've got that right." Annette answers as she walks into the kitchen and finds an apron, tying it around her waist as she speaks,

"Would it be okay to make something?"

"Of course. Why wouldn't it be?" Kanon asks in confusion as Annette approaches her.

"I want to give something to Winter for being a good friend. So I thought I had better ask for permission before doing so." She says nervously with an arm behind her head.

"That sounds fine. Just make sure he doesn't get the wrong idea." Kanon replies, slightly nervous that another person wanted to do something for Winter.

"I know." Annette responds with a happy smile before collecting equipment and ingredients for her own use.

About 10 minutes into the cooking operation, Annette asks Kanon a question.

"So, what are you making for him?"

"The traditional home-made chocolate. I'm going to make a big bunch since I know he loves to eat." She responds with a gleeful smile on her face, clearly enjoying making the treats.

"What are you making?" Kanon throws the question back at Annette.

"Well, I kind of assumed that you were making him chocolate so I thought I'd make him an apple crumble." Annette responds with a small smile. "I don't even know if he likes apple crumbles. I've never seen him eat one." Kanon grimaces and Annette takes notice of that.

"What? What's wrong?" Annette asks in a panic, almost dropping the bowl of ingredients in her hands.

"Well... Uh... How do I put this? Winter loves eating almost everything but one of the things he really hates are crumbles." Kanon breaks the news to Annette.

"What? Really? Oh, dammit! Well, at least I didn't get very far with it. I'll make something else." Annette says with her head lowered in a dejected fashion as she moves her way over to the bin and drops the contents of the bowl inside of it.

"Yeah, sorry about that. How about you tell me what you want to make and I'll say if he likes it or not." Kanon speaks up in an attempt to make Annette feel better.

"That sounds like a good idea. How about... I make some sort of shaped jelly?"

"Winter doesn't like jelly either. He says that it has no taste and he won't eat anything bland." Kanon shoots down another one of Annette's ideas.

"Really? Wow. I must have bad luck if I pick out two of the things he doesn't like. Does he like cake?" Annette asks with an expecting an answer expression.

"I think he does." Kanon says as she enters a thinking position, putting a finger to her chin.

"Great. Then I'll make a cake then." Annette announces with a smile before collecting the necessary ingredients. Meanwhile, Kanon continues making her chocolates, making each one heart shaped.

Another 40 minutes later and the two have finished their gifts for Winter. With proud smiles the two marvel at their work. Kanon's chocolates have been designed into heart shapes and have multiple colours. Annette's cake has two pink corners adjacent to each other and two yellow corners, also adjacent to each other, that match the colour of the rest of the cake. Scraped into the side of the cake is a "Thanks Winter!" message so that Annette can show her gratitude towards him. They put their creations into two different containers.

"When are you going to give your cake to him?" Kanon asks with the transparent container of chocolates in her hands.

"Actually," Annette says as she picks up her container and moves to Kanon, "I was hoping to put it into his room. Would you mind coming with me?" She asks as she shifts the box round to get a better grip.

"Yeah, of course." Kanon replies positively and they both set off to Winter's room.

They soon reach Winter's room but come across an obstacle.

"Oh! The door's locked." Annette announces in a dejected voice as she continues to fiddle with the door handle, hoping that the door would open.

"That's not a problem." Kanon says with a smile as she puts her container down and fumbles through her pockets.

"Of course it's a problem. If the door's locked then I won't be able to put it into his room..." Annette trails off as Kanon takes her hands out of her pockets and reveals a small silver key.

"Not when Winter has given me a spare key." Kanon says as she unlocks the door and pushes it open, stepping into the room with her container in her hands.

"Actually, I don't think you should come in here." Kanon says with a nervous smile as she stands in the doorway.

"Why? What's wrong?" Annette asks with a puzzled expression as he tries to worm her head around Kanon to see why she would say that.

"Let's just say that his room is a mess." Kanon replies with her nervous expression and takes the container from Annette, making sure to close the door before putting the container on the desk next to Winter's bed. Kanon leaves and relocks the room.

"I've left it near his bed. So what are you going to do now?" Kanon asks Annette who had patiently waited for Kanon to re-emerge from Winter's room.

"Well... I'll probably see what's happening around the Den. Well, I'll see you later, Kanon." Annette speaks and waves a goodbye as she enters the lift. Kanon, with her container still in her hands, then went about searching for Winter.

After a while of searching and resulting in being unable to find Winter, Kanon moves to Hibari's desk to see if she has any idea of where Winter is.

"Hi, Hibari." Kanon greets her, "Do you have any idea where Winter is? I know that he didn't have any missions scheduled for today." Kanon explains.

"It's funny that you mention that; Winter went out to the City of Mercy to kill a few Aragami." Hibari gives Kanon an honest answer.

"Why would he do that?" Kanon asks with a puzzled expression.

"I have no idea. Sakaki had arranged for the newest God Eaters to kill these Aragami but Winter was highly against it."

"So Sakaki has that much faith in the new recruits?" Kanon asks.

"Yeah but Winter thought it would be a death trap so he took both missions."

"He is with another person right?" Kanon asks with a worried voice. Her worry only grows as Hibari mentions that he is soloing the mission.

"What Aragami is he against?" Kanon's voice raises as her concern grows.

"If I remember correctly... He is against a Susano'o and an Aether." When Hibari mentions "Susano'o" Kanon has an instant flashback o the last time that Winter and her were against this type of Aragami. It resulted in Winter being speared through the chest, narrowly missing his vital organs. Had it not been for Winter's ability to regenerate so quickly then Winter would have definitely died that day.

"Have you been in contact with him?" Kanon places her hands on Hibari's desk, making the container of chocolates she was holding drop onto the desk as well.

"Yeah, he said that he had defeated the Susano'o about five minutes ago but he still has to defeat the Aether. I can arrange transport for you if you want to go to him." Hibari offers Kanon as it was clear she was in a distressed state, although when she mentioned that the Susano'o had been defeated Kanon did seem relieved.

"That's be great, thanks. I'll go and get my God Arc now." Kanon answers before picking up the container from the desk and heading to the area where her God Arc is stored.

Within 10 minutes, Kanon has received her God Arc and gotten onto a helicopter bound for the City of Mercy. After another stressful 10 minutes, Kanon finally arrives at the City of Mercy and instantly locates Winter from the helicopter. She tells the pilot to move closer towards Winter who is still engaged in battle with the Aether. Although he looks fine, that doesn't stop Kanon from panicking and jumps out of the helicopter with the container of chocolates in one hand and her God Arc in the other. Kanon aims her jump to land directly onto the Aether as she fires multiple mortars at point blank range. The mortars finish the Aragami off as it falls to the ground with its final roar.

"Not that I'm sad to see you but that Aragami was supposed to last me a few more hours." Winter says with a sigh and a hand scratching the back of his head before moving to Kanon.

"What do you mean it was supposed to last you a few more hours?! You're supposed to kill Aragami at any chance you get!" Kanon shouts back with her fear turning into anger.

"Now we've got nothing to do to pass the time." Winter crosses his arms and assumes a thinking pose before signalling to the pilot to leave without them. Understanding the gesture, the pilot heads back in the same direction he came.

"Why did you just dismiss him?! How are we going to get home now?!" Kanon shouts with her anger slowly subsiding.

"Well, I was hoping to bring you out here later so we might as well stay here until the show starts." Winter informs Kanon with a smile whilst constantly glimpsing at the container in her hand.

"The show?" Kanon repeats before noticing that Winter's attention occasionally drifts to the container she is holding with one of her hands.

"I did make some chocolates for you but I don't think you deserve any." Kanon speaks up as she crosses her arms and turns away from Winter.

"What? Why? I want some chocolate!" To Kanon, Winter sounds like a desperate child which greatly amuses her but she doesn't show it in her facial features and just "hmphs".

"Please Kanon. You don't want your chocolates to go to waste, right?" Winter pleads as he moves closer to Kanon.

"They won't be wasted. I could give them out to everyone in the Den." She responds, keeping up her act which makes Winter drop to his hands and knees, begging for the chocolate and even mustering up his best puppy-dog eyes in an attempt to change Kanon's mind. Unfortunately for him though, she keeps turning away so that she can't see his expression. That is until Winter grabs onto her midriff to stop her from moving and even feigns a few tears.

"Say please." Kanon says, unable to keep up her façade for much longer.

"Please Kanon."

"Okay. Just don't go fighting two Aragami like that by yourself. You remember what happened the last time we fought a Susano'o, right?" Kanon asks which brings back both pleasant and unpleasant memories for Winter since that day was the same day that they had seen the sunset together. Kanon also hands Winter the container full of chocolates.

"Yeah, there was an unfortunate accident but if that didn't happen, then you probably would have had to wait longer to hear me say that _Harley_ is my first name." Winter responds with a smile before relinquishing his hold on Kanon and standing up, opening the container in the progress.

"Wow, these look pretty." Winter says as he views the multiple coloured chocolate hearts inside the container and takes a blue one from the box and eating it.

"They taste delicious too." Winter says after finishing the chocolate and grabbing another one.

"Well I'm glad you like them." Kanon responds with a very pleased smile which mirrors he emotions. She had to admit that she was slightly nervous about giving Winter some chocolate but her nerves disappeared at Winter's comments.

"So... Uh... What do we do now?" Kanon asks Winter who is still eating some of her chocolates. He presents the container to Kanon and shakes it slightly as if to say "take one". She doesn't accept though.

"Well, there's still a bit of time before the show starts... Follow me." Winter says after finishing one of the chocolates before taking another, grabbing her hand and moving through the remains of one of the buildings. They soon reach the roof of the building that doesn't really look too sturdy.

"Is this safe?" Kanon asks with worry evident in her voice.

"Well, it's not dangerous." Winter answers her and clasps her hand tighter. She squeezes slightly harder in response. After a few seconds, Winter directs them to a sturdier looking corner of the building and sits down so that his back is leaning against the remains of a small section of wall. Kanon takes a seat next to him and Winter shakes the container at her again in an attempt to give her one.

"No tha..."

"I'm only going to keep asking, you know. I bet you haven't even tasted one yet." Winter informs her before looking at the sky. The sky was slowly beginning to turn shades of red and orange. Kanon takes one of her chocolates, although reluctantly, and eats one to make Winter stop offering any to her.

"So, how long are we staying out for?"

"Probably about 20 more minutes. I'll call for a helicopter to pick us up soon." Winter answers honestly but pointing into the horizon.

"That's what we're here for." Following his finger, Kanon notices also notices the sky has changed colour and the sun is slowly sinking into the earth. Or at least, that's what it looks like.

"The sunset? It is quite a nice view." Kanon smiles as she moves herself to sit closer to Winter who wraps an arm around her in response.

"It's times like these which makes me thankful that we have saved the world. You can only appreciate the smallest things in life when you know how it feels without them." Winter speaks with a smile gracing his face.

"That makes no sense." Kanon looks at Winter whose smile drops for a second.

"Shut up. I'm trying to be romantic. I'm not very well skilled in these things, you know." Winter's smile returns as he gives Kanon a peck on her forehead.

"Just be yourself. I fell for you knowing that you weren't very romantic" She leans her head against Winter's shoulder. "Just you being with me is all I care about." A few minutes off bliss silence pass before Winter decides to speak up.

"Actually, Kanon, there's something I want to ask you."

"Oh? What is it?" Kanon asks in confusion.

"Well, you know how Sakaki has been holding these popularity events? Well, he's holding another one next week. Last time Alisa was there with me but it got quite boring. Can you be there with me in the next one?" Winter asks Kanon nervously. Kanon seems to enjoy his nervous expression, choosing not to answer him for a while so that she can revel in it.

"Of course!" She gives Winter a hug before kissing him on the lips to which he reciprocates.

"Great, thanks!" Winter speaks up whilst his thoughts tell a different story,

'I better not tell her that a few people tried to feel me up.'

Once the two of them had finished on the roof top, they called for a helicopter to pick them up. Once they arrived back at the Den, they both went into Winter's room where they proceeded to watch the television whilst snacking on Kanon's chocolate and Annette's cake.

"I'll have to thank Annette for the cake." Winter says aloud, waiting for a response from Kanon. Looking down to his lap, he sees that Kanon's eyes are closed and her breathing has become shallow.

"You're asleep already? Wow." Winter whispers and stares at Kanon for a few more seconds before switching the television off, giving her a peck on the head and drifting off to sleep himself.


	4. Chapter 4

From the Start: Short Stories

Chapter 4 - Popularity Event 2

DISCLAIMER: I DO NOT OWN THE GOD EATER FRANCHISE HOWEVER I DO OWN MY OC.

Winter's POV

The time had eventually come for another popularity event; featuring yours truly to get the best outcome possible. Or is it income since Sakaki is only doing this for the money? Regardless, Sakaki had arranged this event to take place outside of the Far East since I was apparently _world famous_. So this event is taking place in a place that was once known as Britain and it doesn't really give off a positive impression. This event was arranged by the Director of the London Branch and so, she thought that it would be best to hold it in a castle which is positioned in the centre of the community that the London Branch guards. It just so happens that this castle is owned by the Director.

Currently, my partner and I are walking to this castle to meet with the Director; where we will be told where it will be held and what activities I will be offering. I'm glad I asked my partner about accompanying me on this trip on Valentine's Day. I'm not sure I would have been able to cope in a new terrain without somebody else with me. Kanon is helping me get through this but i know that things will look worse soon enough.

Kanon and I, hand in hand, turn around a street corner with the castle being in sight and encounter a problem.

"There are so many people..." Kanon says as she looks shocked at the turnout. She was right. We must have been about half a mile away from the castle and yet, we could already see the back of the line. I feel Kanon squeeze my hand.

"There's a hell of a lot more people than the last time." I speak with a stunned expression plastered on my face. Kanon's squeezing of my hand did remind me of her presence but it wasn't enough to quell my fears. I put on a strong front though as we continued our walk.

At first, we didn't grab the attention of all of the people as they were too busy talking about the event. I wish it would have stayed that way but it didn't. Once Kanon and I had approached close enough to the queue a few people recognised who I was.

"It's him!" A young boy shouted and pointed his finger towards me which caught the attention of a few of those in the vicinity who had also shouted the same thing and thus catching everybody's attention eventually. Everybody who didn't want to lose their place in the line that is. They all crowded around me and Kanon and I were split up in the process.

"K-Kanon!" I shout as my hand left hers and she was pushed away with the crowd. My eyes followed her pink hair until even that was out of sight. At that moment, the thought that my one pillar of support being crushed caused my fear to flare. But my anger flared more. With a face that could rival even the most sadistic people, I used my Gawain-like claws to prop myself up into the air and have a better view of where Kanon had been pushed to, not caring about the people under my claws. I started walking, with my Gawain-like appendages, towards where I had seen a head of pink hair. Of course, I was careful enough to not seriously harm the people that I _inadvertently_ crushed to reach my pink-haired queen but I was fully aware that most of the people I had crushed were enjoying it.

"bloody masochists." I whispered as I continued my trek to find Kanon.

By the time I reached the head of pink hair, the owner had been pushed to the outer circle of fans and upon closer inspection I realised that the person's hair was not pink. It must have been the way that the light was hitting the owner's hair that it looked pink but now I realise that the owner's hair was a shade of red.

"Wait, so where is Kanon?" I asked myself and look around the crowd with a relatively upset expression whilst still propped up onto my Gawain-like claws.

"So you're Winter?" The red head I had mistaken as Kanon spoke up. I turned my attention back to her. I noticed that the red head looked to be about 5 feet 8 inches and was wearing a white, long sleeved lab coat over a black and grey shirt with a matching skirt to fit. She also has a purple ribbon around her neck as well as black, laced boots to complete her attire. I gave her a nod of my head before moving away from her; not wanting to have a conversation whilst looking for Kanon. But do I need to look for Kanon? She knows that we are meeting with the Director of the London Branch inside of the castle so surely, if we were ever split up, she'd go there to look to look for me. I had dismounted from my Aragami-like appendages and started walking with my own two feet by this point with no pedestrians getting in the way and forming an orderly queue. I headed to the castle by myself.

I reached the castle without experiencing any more problems and found a woman looking very impatient in the centre of the entranceway. I could also see the beginning of the line of my fans located just a few metres away from the door.

"It's about time! What took you so long?! And wasn't there supposed to be two of... Right, I get the idea. For now just go inside and I'll send your girlfriend up when she gets here." The Director said before she moved aside and allowed me to enter. I heard the wind rush past me as she stood in the entranceway again. When I turned around, I knew why she had did it. Just like before, my fans were stampeding but the Director was holding her own quite well.

"Follow me." A deep voice said from in front of me and I turned around, surprised to hear the it. The man had already started moving forward and thus, with his back turned to me, I could not identify and facial features but I could see two arms of the man's glasses. They looked too thick to be regular glasses but I suppose they could be specially designed for him. It wasn't until we stopped in front of a room on the upper floor that the man turned around, thus showing that it was a pair of sunglasses that he was wearing.

"You'll be greeting your fans in here." The man says as he reached behind himself to grab the door handle and pull it open. I walk inside.

"Will you be needing anything?" The man asks as he pokes his head into the room.

"Erm... May I have a cup of coffee?" I tried my best to sound polite.

"Of course. Make yourself comfortable, sir. You'll be here for a while." The man said as his head retreated out of the room and the door closed. I walked to the two seats that were positioned behind a wooden table and took the one on the left.

Sitting down with only the noise of the crowd from outside was pretty relaxing.

"This will probably be the last piece of peace and quiet I'll have for a while, huh?" I say to myself as I put my hands behind my head and start looking around. This rooms was made to look identical to the stall in the first event and it seemed quite repetitive. I looked to back to the table before realising there was a note on it.

 _Winter, Kanon,_

 _I'm sorry I couldn't tell you the instructions in person but I will have to manage how many people I let into my castle at any one time. It's likely that we have met at the door and I will talk with you after the event. Anyway, regarding the instructions, I have already marked them down on a few blackboards around the building leading to your room so you should have seen what you will be offering and how much. If you somehow missed it, I have marked on the blackboard to your left what you will be offering. I'm sorry about this, had I known that you were in a relationship then I would have removed these options but they have already been leaked into the public._

 _Once again, I am very very sorry._

 _The Director._

This had confused me greatly at why she would feel the need to apologise and mention mine and Kanon's relationship. Looking to the left, I soon understood why. In addition to the offers from the last event, there were several others and each had a different pricing depending on the person. For me the options were:

 _3,000FC for a handshake,_

 _3,000FC for a high-five,_

 _15,000FC for an autograph,_

 _25,000FC for a photograph,_

 _53,500FC for a hug,_

and finally, _500,000FC for a kiss_. If it hadn't been for the following information, I would have probably had a heart attack, _on the cheek_. I then looked to Kanon's prices which were very different to mine.

 _1,500FC for a handshake,_

 _1,500FC for a high-five,_

 _11,000FC for an autograph,_

 _20,000FC for a photograph,_

 _51,125FC for a hug,_

 _180,000FC for a kiss on the cheek._

I was thankful for this information but that still meant that we may both have to kiss a person that we held no romantic feelings for. I was going through them multiple times when the door was flung open, revealing an angry Kanon who then stamped to the seat next to mine, sat down roughly, crossed her right leg over her left and folded her arms.

"I'm going to kill Dr. Sakaki when we get back." She growls with her eyebrows furrowed.

"So I'm guessing you've already seen our _services_." I emphasise to Kanon's confusion.

"Huh? I'm talking about the crowds. Wait what do you mean by services?" Kanon responds and I point my finger to the blackboard on our left. It's at this point that the man from before comes into the room and puts the coffee on the table. I take a drink of my coffee.

"But on the cheek is okay, right?" She asks in confusion and I almost spit out my coffee.

"Kissing shouldn't be okay at all unless you are kissing your boyfriend or girlfriend!" I shout in amazement at her innocence.

"Yeah but you see celebrities kissing other people on the cheek even if they don't have any feelings behind it." Kanon seems to have lost all of her anger with this conversation.

"Kanon... We're not even going to discuss this." I state and ignore all her comments about the times he has seen people kiss other people on the cheek without meaning.

Kanon finally drops the topic when our first fans come through the door. Getting a better look at them, they may have been related. The first fan was a teenage male with blond hair and grey eyes to match. He has a dark jacket with mid-length sleeves with a thin red bow attached to the zipper. He also has a white buttoned shirt with a pair of trousers and sturdy boots. He seemed to be sporting the black and gold look. The other person that entered was a young female that is wheelchair bound. The woman has long blonde hair and blue eyes with a small scar on her left cheek and appears to be wearing dark mourning clothes. The two approached.

"What will it be then?" Kanon asks with a smile on her face to keep the customers happy. I see the woman nudge the boy with her arm and he starts speaking,

"I... Er... I'd like for you both to sign this photo." He said with a hint of shyness before handing over the photograph. It was a photograph of the Far East's 1st Unit and so Kanon and I happily signed it.

"There you go." I give him the photograph back, "That will be 26,000FC please." I put on my best customer service face and the boy shyly gave me the money.

"Thank you... So... Does your sister want anything?" I say to the wheelchair bound person and feel a sharp nudge on my knee. I guessed that Kanon was mad at me for saying that but I'm not sure why she would be. I was just addressing the boy's sister.

"Oh my." The woman smiled. "You see, I'm not his sister but I am his adoptive mother." The woman gave a light hearted chuckle and I felt very nervous.

"But yes, I'd like..." The woman browsed the blackboard to the left of us. "a kiss." She turned back to me and I could feel how unwilling I was to cooperate with the woman's request. She must have noticed my hesitation as she pulls out half a million Fenrir Credits (FC) from her bag.

"Don't worry, I have the money." She puts it on the table.

"Thanks miss." Kanon says before giving me a sharp nudge with her leg as if to say _hurry it up_. I could only imagine the discussion we will get into later about this _kiss on the cheek_ option. Wait. Didn't Kanon say she saw no problem with it before? Reciting that conversation, I leaned over the table and the woman had moved her head to the right, allowing me access to her right cheek. I kissed her just below her scar and immediately retracted after giving it. Her cheek was so cold that it was like kissing a dead person. With that completed, the two fans left.

It was four more hours before any other noteworthy thing took place. As the person entered the room, I noticed it was the same person that I mistook Kanon for. She must have seen my surprised expression as she give a sinister smirk.

"Winter. We meet again." She seemed almost sadistic. "I have bad news for you." Se continued. "I don't want anything on the board. I want something that isn't on it." She says with her smirk growing. I go to grab Kanon's hand before realising that she isn't there. I feel slightly panicked before realising that Kanon is whispering to the person outside of the room. I see the person, the same man who gave me my coffee, look towards the woman and start moving towards her.

"I want to dissect you! It's not everyday that you see an Aragami take on the form of a human!" She says as she tries to grab me but, thankfully, the man stops her by putting her into a head-lock.

"I was originally human, you know. But circumstances turned me into this." I speak, slightly scared at the situation and fearing for my life.

"I can offer you 5,000,000FC!" She shouts before being dragged away. It takes a few seconds for me to process what has just happened but when I do, I slump into my chair, lean onto the table and let myself calm down.

"Thanks Kanon." I say as she sits down next to me and takes one of my hands into hers and squeezes it.

"Of course." She says and I can only imagine she has a cheery grin on her face.

A/N: Let's see if you know the characters that I described.


End file.
